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Feb
05
BTT: TMI
2009 at 9am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
This week’s question: Have you ever been put off an author’s books after reading a biography of them? Or the reverse – a biography has made you love an author more?
This question is really similar to a discussion that Natasha at Maw Books started earlier this week. Her question was a bit more hypothetical and conceptual than this one, but they do go together, and I think I’ll address both here today since I never got around to commenting on Natasha’s post.
Natasha wanted to know if an author’s personal belief system impacts if or how we support them. My answer is generally, no, it does not. I enjoy reading books by and about people whose beliefs, ideas, and experiences are different from my own, and I think it is important to do so. If you never challenge, examine, or evaluate your beliefs and put them up against other options, they become static and dogmatic. Books offer us an opportunity to work against that, and I think that’s really cool.
Does it mean that I, a rather liberal Book Lady, am going to spend the weekend reading Ann Coulter’s latest book? Probably not (though hubby does get me to listen to conservative talk radio occasionally). But it does mean that I don’t have a problem reading books and exploring ideas that make me uncomfortable. If the writing is good and the story is compelling, I’m willing to squirm a little bit for the end result. I love it when authors aren’t afraid to ask big questions and tackle difficult issues—two of my favorite books are The Sparrow and A Prayer for Owen Meany—and I’d hate to miss out on a good book just because I don’t agree with the author’s personal beliefs.
For me, buying books is similar to paying for any other service or form of entertainment. I don’t really care what an actor or author or singer does in his spare time as long as the movie or book or song I’m paying to enjoy is good. And I don’t care where my doctor goes to church (or if she goes to church) as long as she provides me with good care and guidance. The two things are relatively unrelated.
There are some exceptions to the rule, though. If an author is donating proceeds from a book to an organization I believe does harmful work in our communities, then I’m not going to support that author with my purchase. I might borrow the book from a friend, though, or check it out from the library if I really want to read it. Likewise, if an author crosses the line from being controversial to being patently offensive, I will reconsider my desire to read his or her work….but I also might be more intrigued by it because I’ll want to read it for myself and form my own opinion about it rather than rely on word of mouth to tell me what’s going on.
And if an author is blatantly trying to profit from a crime he has committed or harm he has caused (hello, OJ Simpson), there’s no way I’m going to read or support that.
I’m sure that at some point I’ve gained respect or affection for an author because of some biographical information, but I can’t think of any particular examples. I have been turned off by biographical information, especially when it indicates that an author has fabricated huge chunks of his memoir. I probably would have read A Million Little Pieces if it hadn’t come out that James Frey basically invented whole portions of it, and I was disgusted by the more recent revelation that a Holocaust survivor told big lies in his memoir.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that contemporary memoirs are often exaggerated, but these two authors were over the line. I don’t want to read a memoir and have to spend the whole time wondering what’s fact and what’s fiction.
What about you? Does information about an author’s life or personal beliefs ever impact your feelings about their books or your willingness to read them?
No related posts.
This is a great answer! And, nicely stated, too!
I’m pretty much aligned with you. One exception for me was after I read Ayelet Waldman’s long essay about how she loves her husband more than her children, that in fact she could survive better if the kids died than if her husband did, I completely lost interest in reading another word she wrote. Such a heartless thing to put out there for her kids to read someday. How devastating to them.
I agree with you about proceeds — if I don’t believe in the cause, I won’t buy the book. because I wouldn’t have donated to that charity or organization on my own. Very once in a while (like Amy), I’ve run across something that has cooled me to an author. I think it’s human nature.
I usually start with just the story, and maybe the biographical blurb on the back cover. But sometimes after I have read and enjoyed several books by one author, I like to read more about them, figuring their own life story goes into the stories they write. Often it enhances my reading of their work.
I agree with the above commenters, though, too — if I found something like that, my interest would probably cool.
I’m right there with you – I don’t have a problem reading books by people that have different belief systems than me, as long as they aren’t preachy about it (you won’t find me reading Anne Coulter)
I just want to copy and paste everything you said into my own post.
You’ve said everything perfectly.
[...] a biography of them? Or the reverse – a biography has made you love an author more? Like Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog, I’m going to open this question up a little more along the lines of this post at Maw Books, [...]
I read to explore new ideas, not avoid them. I couldn’t think of an author I would avoid until I read your post, though – no way would I read OJ’s work either.
I agree with you. I thought Tom Cruise had lost his marbles a few years back and although I couldn’t help thinking of the couch jumping, I still saw his movies.
Ditto on the memoirs. Not much point in reading them if they’re not all true.
The truth is, at least for me, knowing the life of an author might incline me to read more of the works. Knowing is key to understand the authorial meaning in fiction. After all, author is a life, reading an author is just getting to know the life. If I enjoy the works, I would want to know more about the author.
I just don’t like James Frey’s attitude at all. Well, he succeeded in making himself famous.
It not so much that I would not want to read their ideas bur rather that I might not want someone, like OJ, to benefit financially from the sale of his book to me.
But even if he might not benefit financially, you really have to question whether one wants to spend the time reading something like that. There is only so much time and so many books. Every one you choose to read is another you will not have the time to read.
Wonderful post! I agree wholeheartedly with what you’ve written here. One thing that I didn’t consider when I wrote about this topic this morning was living authors. Knowing that James Frey or other authors lied within a book that is supposed to be non-fiction would most definitely turn me off and probably for good.
Speaking of OJ, Donovan from Zappos pointed out where OJ finally ran out of luck on our way back to Caesers Palace from their headquarters. It definitely was in a lower class place than the Strip. I found it interesting that it was Nevada that finally put him behind bars. You can say all you want about Sin City, but it’s a city that knows how to hand out justice.
You know what, you took the words right out of my mouth. It was almost like reading something I myself had written. Wow!
I mentioned Ann Coulter and James Frey, too. Not as eloquently as you, though.
You bring up an good point with OJ…I didn’t think about books like that, I just thought of political rants.
Excellent post.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment on my blog. I think a basic knowledge of the historical period and an author’s life is conducive to understanding works of classics, since we are separated by time. Now that I’m reading The Great Gatsby, which was written by a man of his own time about his time, I find many of the details from the book now seem as remote as those in the world of, say, Charles Dickens. Great fiction, therefore, becomes a social history or commentary that identifies with a time period.